


Fletcher-Flynn Foundation Fluff

by foobar137



Series: The Fletcher-Flynn Foundation [10]
Category: Phineas and Ferb
Genre: College, Diners, F/M, Fights, Financial Problems, Fluff, Marriage Proposal, More tags as more chapters appear, New house, Offers, Responsibility, Toast, Vignette, Vignette Collection, Weddings, fireplace
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-01
Updated: 2013-09-08
Packaged: 2017-12-10 01:58:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/780455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foobar137/pseuds/foobar137
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fluffy vignettes in the Fletcher-Flynn Foundation timeline. Expect Phineas and Isabella and Ferb and Vanessa. Now showing: "Quid Pro Quo", where Monty shows up on the Foundation's doorstep with a friend and an offer...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Doubts and Reassurances

**Author's Note:**

> I've decided to create a collection of fluffy vignettes in the Fletcher-Flynn Foundation timeline. Expect fluff, and romance, and more fluff, and nothing higher than a T rating.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Narbonic/Skin Horse crossover is being annoying, and this little thing popped into my head and decided it needed to be written. We haven't checked in on the Fletcher-Flynn Foundation timeline in a while, so have some Phinbella fluff.
> 
> Timeline: early spring semester, Phineas and Isabella's senior year of college. About a year and a half after their wedding.

Phineas sat at the kitchen table, taking a quick break from his thermodynamics homework, and looked down at the ring on his left hand. A simple band of yellow gold with a wave of white gold in the center, it did not look like much, but it signified...everything.

He shook his head and looked over at the couch of the large apartment he and his wife shared with his brother and sister-in-law. Isabella was curled in one corner of the couch, reading a book on her tablet. If he looked closely, he could see her ring, a matched twin to his own, glinting on her finger.

As if feeling his eyes on her, she looked up at him and smiled. "What?" she asked.

"Just wondering what I did to deserve someone as wonderful as you in my life."

She put her finger to her lips in thought. "Hm, that's a tough one. Invented hundreds of cool things over several summers to keep your friends and family entertained."

"Drove my sister crazy as she tried to bust me for doing reckless things that could have gotten me or one of said friends killed if they'd gone wrong," he countered.

"Helped anyone who asked you for help - especially me, when I needed help with Fireside Girls patches."

"Gave you an unfair advantage in getting patches compared to anyone else. And completely overshadowed what you'd done when I helped my sister get fifty patches in one day."

Her brow furrowed a bit. "Saved my mother's life, and then gave the technology you used for it to the world to save more lives. Which it has."

He smiled. "And then got rewarded with research funding to get you - and me - _and_ Ferb through college together."

She set the tablet aside, stood up, and walked over to him. Sitting in his lap and lacing her arms around his neck, she asked, "There's nothing that says you can't get multiple rewards, Phineas. Your intentions have always been good. So have the results. But this isn't really what's eating you, is it?"

He shook his head, his arms resting around her waist. "No. We're graduating soon. Everyone is expecting incredible things out of us. Out of me. What if...it doesn't happen? What if I never do anything else? We’ve got that massive lab under construction back in Danville; how are we going to pay for it? It’s a lot of responsibility - I’ve got a wife counting on me, and my brother and his wife too, and maybe someday kids of our own..."

“Then somebody else comes up with our next big idea. Ferb, or Vanessa, or even me. There’s plenty of things that you guys did that could become real science. The teleporters, maybe, or the antigrav boots. Those are closer to real science than miniaturization was. Vanessa’s got as much of a physics background as you do, now - her dissertation work dropped the energy costs for miniaturization by a third, remember.”

“And what if that isn’t enough?”

Isabella brushed a hand forward along his cheek. “Then we get real jobs. It’s not like it’s done Candace or Jeremy any harm, and they’ve got a kid to take care of and twins on the way. Candace loves her job as a family therapist, and Jeremy seems to be enjoying being a music teacher.” She took his face within her hands, forcing him to look at her. “Phineas Garcia-Flynn, you are not allowed to mope about this. As long as we’re together, we can get through anything.”

He smiled; they’d merged names a year and a half ago at the wedding, but it still made him happy to hear it. “Not allowed, eh? What are you going to do to stop me?”

She leaned in and kissed him, murmuring, “I’ll find a way,” against his lips.


	2. Toast

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Timeline: summer between P/F/I's sophomore and junior years of college; Vanessa is two years into grad school. Phineas and Isabella are 20; Ferb is 19, Vanessa is 25.

Ferb looked around the room and realized it was time. The hotel ballroom was crowded with tables, full of the friends and families of the Fletcher-Flynn and Garcia-Shapiro families. He sat at the head table between Isabella and Vanessa, a clever bit of seating arrangement on Isabella's part that (among other things) sat him next to his actual girlfriend (the second bridesmaid) instead of his ex-girlfriend Gretchen (the maid of honor, seated on the far side of Phineas). Everyone had been served champagne or sparkling cider according to their age, so he clinked his glass to get everyone's attention as he stood up. This was his final responsibility today, and he was quite glad about that.

Isabella and Candace had spent the last month planning every detail they could; they'd all spent the past week in Danville during the final preparation, and Phineas had increasingly resembled a trapped rat as the formalities wrapped around him. Ferb had almost suggested eloping, but the big princess wedding had been so important to Isabella that he didn't dare tempt his brother with that forbidden thought.

He glanced quickly at his notes, then began his speech. "This is a day that we've all been awaiting for a long time. Some of us longer than others," he said with a smile at Isabella, who smirked in response. She hadn't seen his speech ahead of time, leaving this as the one thing all day she hadn't been in charge of planning; she hadn't been particularly thrilled about  _anything_  having that distinction, but had finally been convinced to trust his judgement, if only because he'd flat-out refused to give her any advance peeks at the speech.

Ferb continued. "Today, we celebrate the wedding of Phineas and Isabella Garcia-Flynn, a couple who, if they were any more perfect for each other, you'd swear they were fictional characters. Oscar Wilde said that marriage is the triumph of imagination over intelligence, but this particular marriage is a triumph of both. It has been my privilege and pleasure to call myself Phineas's brother for the past eighteen years, and to call Isabella my neighbor and my friend for the past eleven. And in all that time, they have been two of the most intelligent, imaginative, creative, and inspiring people I have ever met.

"While I was preparing this speech, Isabella's father told me that, on the day Isabella first met Phineas, she told her parents she was going to marry him. Given the accuracy of that prediction: Mr. Garcia-Shapiro, if she gave you any stock tips that day, I hope you were able to take advantage of them.

"That said, what nobody has been told before today is  _Phineas's_  reaction to that meeting."

Phineas winced and put his head in his hands. Isabella looked at him, concerned, and then eyed Ferb suspiciously. Ferb took the opportunity to take a sip of water.

"Phineas was, after all, an eight-year-old boy. Girls weren't really on his radar yet in general, and so he didn't seem to pick up on her feelings toward him.

"However, while Phineas hadn't noticed Isabella's feelings yet, I had. Subtlety was not her strong point. And so, as we lay in our beds that night, I asked him what he thought of our new neighbor.

"He said that her Fireside Girls patches sounded 'neat', and he was looking forward to helping her earn them. Now, that doesn't sound unusual to any of you, perhaps, but this was the first time I'd ever heard Phineas willingly offer to do something that wasn't an idea he'd come up with on his own. He tended to be a little single-minded at the time.

"The conclusion seemed plain to me - my brother was developing some sort of feelings for this new girl. So I asked the obvious question: 'Phineas, do you  _like_  her?'

"And I was rewarded by something that I had never, ever encountered before, and have very rarely seen since: Phineas Flynn rendered completely speechless."

Scattered laughter came from the crowd. Phineas was trying to glare at Ferb, but couldn't help but smile at the same time.

"He spluttered for a couple minutes, and then confessed that, indeed, he considered her a very interesting person that he'd like to spend more time with. And he thought they could be good friends. But, you know, he didn't _like_  her. She was a  _girl_. And he told me that if I ever told anyone - especially Isabella - about this, he'd take it out of my hide.

"Phineas - I hope you'll forgive me, but I think at this point, we've all figured out that you like Isabella."

Ferb picked up his glass as the wedding guests laughed and Phineas blushed. Isabella was smiling and shaking her head.

"So: a toast to the happy couple. To six years of friendship, and five years of dating, and a lifetime of happiness together. To Phineas and Isabella."

The toast completed, Ferb sat down. He was officially off the hook and, barring anything truly unexpected, unable to mess up Isabella's Perfect Wedding Day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I hadn't planned to write this. I was working on a Ferbnessa story set shortly after this, and I needed to set the scene a bit, and the scene I did it in didn't work. There was far too much 'telling' and not enough 'showing'. So I decided to back up to the wedding, and this scene happened. And I love it. You'll get the Ferbnessa bit tomorrow, if I can fix the ending so I like it.
> 
> I envision Isabella as being a bit of a bridezilla, as you can see. I had originally planned to knock some of the corners off of that in Something Special, but for various reasons it didn't happen.
> 
> 14AmyChan has made [a picture of the toast](http://14amychan.deviantart.com/art/Commission-foobar137-383225941) for me!


	3. A Modest Proposal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Timeline: summer between P/F/I’s sophomore and junior years of college; Vanessa is two years into grad school. Phineas and Isabella are 20; Ferb is 19, Vanessa is 25.
> 
> Marshwood is to the Quad-State Area as Danville is to the Tri-State Area; it’s about three hours away by car. (At least, the way Ferb drives, it is.)

The wedding had gone off with only the one hitch that was intended, and Ferb and Vanessa had seen the newlyweds off at the airport that morning for a honeymoon in the Caribbean. Now they were on the road back to Marshwood for some welcome relaxation at home.

Vanessa smiled as Ferb pulled into the diner on the outskirts of Marshwood. They'd made a habit of stopping here whenever they drove to or from Danville, and the ancient neon sign and stainless-steel walls again welcomed them. They were early for lunch, and the grey-haired waitress waved them to a booth as she chatted with one of the regulars at the counter about the previous night's baseball game - the Marshwood Maulers had lost a heartbreaker in extra innings.

They slid onto the vinyl seats, and Vanessa looked at the young man across from her. He seemed so much older than his age would indicate, radiating a maturity that many of her fellow graduate students couldn't match. She'd fallen for him a year and a half ago when, just by chance, she'd ended up with Phineas in her Physics 2 recitation section, and Ferb had come to track her down as soon as he knew she was there. Now, she couldn't imagine life without him.

"What'll you have, hon?" the waitress asked, setting glasses of water in front of them.

"A club sandwich with fries and an iced tea," Vanessa said. They came here often enough that they knew the menu by heart.

"Reuben with a side of coleslaw and a cherry Coke, please," Ferb added.

The waitress made notes on her pad and said, "Coming up," walking back toward the kitchen.

Vanessa reached across the worn formica table and clasped Ferb's hand. Phineas and Isabella's wedding had her thinking about taking a similar step with Ferb, but she knew he'd be hesitant to ask. His short relationship with Gretchen had made him gun-shy about moving too quickly, and Vanessa found that she frequently had to gently push him along and convince him that, really, they were ready.

He kissed her hand, then apologized for needing to leave her to visit the men's room. She let go reluctantly and watched him head to the back of the diner.

As she set their drinks on the table, the waitress said, "He seems like a keeper."

Vanessa looked up at the older woman and smiled. "He is."

* * *

Ferb placed the last of the dinner dishes in the dishwasher, then crossed into the living area of the apartment to join Vanessa on the couch. He took his customary position at the end of the couch, leaning against the arm, and gestured for her to join him; however, instead, she turned to face him.

"Can we talk for a moment? I've...got something to ask you," she said.

"Absolutely. Is something wrong?" he asked, concerned.

"No, nothing's wrong," she said. "I've just been thinking, and..." She took a deep breath, and looked him in the eye. "Ferb...will you marry me?"

Ferb sat up, stunned. He'd been pondering whether to ask Vanessa; apparently she'd chosen not to wait for him to decide it was time. A smile crossed his face. "I would be honoured and delighted to marry you."

Vanessa exhaled. "I don't need a fancy ring, or a big fancy wedding. I just need you."

"Mm. Your mother will want the fancy wedding," he said, knowing what reaction he'd get.

"Even more reason not to have it, then," she said with an answering smile.

"As for the ring...hold that thought." He stood up and hurried through the kitchen into their bedroom; rooting around under his socks, he found what he was looking for. He held it behind his back as he returned, then knelt on the floor in front of her.

"Clearly, we've been thinking along the same lines," he said as he pulled the ring box from behind his back.

"Ferb..." she said, her mouth quirking into a smile.

He opened the box, showing a gold ring with two small gemstones next to each other: a chocolate diamond and an emerald. "I couldn't quite get the colours to match," he said regretfully. "This was the best I could do."

"It's beautiful. It's perfect. Please tell me it didn't cost an arm and a leg."

"Not at all. They're both man-made stones," he said with a grin. He pulled it out of the box and held it between thumb and finger. "May I?"

Vanessa held out her hand, and he gently slid the ring onto it. "It fits," she said. "How did you...?"

"I measured one night while you were asleep," he said.

She admired the ring on her finger, then pulled him into an embrace. "When did you get this?"

"A few weeks ago. I wanted to wait until after the wedding - overshadowing the bride is never a good idea, especially  _that_  bride in particular. You're sure you don't want a big wedding? I'm sure Isabella and Candace would  _love_  to help."

Vanessa shuddered into his shoulder. "My mother, too. Can't you just see what the three of them would cook up together? Ugh. No. Small, intimate family wedding."

Ferb pulled back enough to look at her face, and asked, "When would you like?"

"Next summer, maybe? I want it done before I finish my dissertation, so everything gets published under one name."

"Vanessa Fletcher? I could get to like the sound of that. Or..."

"Oh, absolutely, yes. You would not  _believe_  how much I'm looking forward to ditching the name Doofenshmirtz."

"The joys of a name people can spell."

Vanessa laughed. "Yes! We should probably call everyone and tell them about this."

Ferb murmured, "What's the rush?," and leaned forward to claim his fiancée's mouth in a tender kiss.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This started out as a short little bit where they were driving along and thinking about the wedding they’d just come from, and then she proposed at the diner. And then the characters started complaining that I was doing it wrong, and telling rather than showing, and...
> 
> It doesn’t help matters that they were right.


	4. Tyger, Tyger

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Timeline: immediately after college graduation

Isabella sat at the counter, drinking a glass of water in their new kitchen while Ferb and Vanessa returned the rental truck that had carried all of their worldly goods to their new home. She looked around at the huge building that was now theirs - one huge kitchen, dining room, and common living area, with stairs up to two separate wings which each had a large master suite, three more bedrooms, and a private living room. And, most importantly, one large common lab for the Foundation's research. It all felt empty - the contents of their two-bedroom apartment in Marshwood couldn't come close to filling this mammoth new home.

It had been Phineas's idea originally, of course, but they'd all helped it snowball into...this. They needed a lab to do research in, to come up with the next big idea for the Fletcher-Flynn Foundation. And they needed places to live. A little rented lab they could all share had become a new lab building they could work in, and then they could attach living quarters, and as long as they were doing that, they might as well plan for the future...

And now they - through the Foundation - were proud owners of a large building on the outskirts of Danville. They'd tapped out most of the funds the Foundation had available for the down payment - a big gamble, but one they hoped they could make pay off quickly. Vanessa had suggested the gravity-cancelling grab handles they'd used while moving in as a simple idea that could be a big score, and the plan was to begin work on that as soon as everyone was unpacked.

Isabella shrugged her sore shoulders in memory. The handles cancelled gravity, but not mass, so inertia was still not your friend. The handles had made moving their stuff in easier, but by no means easy. She ached all over from the work of moving.

She stretched, and then familiar hands were on her shoulders, kneading out the knots. Sighing happily, she leaned back into her husband's chest. Phineas kissed her on top of her head and asked, "Does that help?"

"Yes, yes it does. Maybe tonight we can try out that tub - I could really use a long hot bath."

"Care for some company?" he asked, and she could hear the grin in his voice even with her back to him.

Before she could answer, the doorbell rang, and Phineas ran toward the door. "I'll get it!" he yelled. "I'm expecting a delivery."

Intrigued, Isabella followed him to the front door, where two large men were carrying a large rolled-up...thing. It could be a carpet, she thought, or maybe a tapestry. Whatever it was, it was apparently meant to be a surprise, as Phineas shooed her away with a promise that she could see it once it was set up. Phineas led the delivery men over to the Garcia-Flynn wing; they returned a few minutes later without their burden, and Phineas thanked them as he escorted them back out the front door.

"So can I see it now?" she asked as he returned through the kitchen.

"Why, yes. Yes, you can," he replied. "Right this way, please."

He led her up the stairs to their private living room, which was mostly bare of furniture. In front of the gas fireplace, an expanse of hardwood floor was covered by a furry new rug. It looked a bit like a tiger, but not quite - and then she saw the head, with two large protruding fangs.

"Phineas...is that a saber-toothed tiger-skin rug?" she asked, not entirely sure how she wanted him to answer.

"Sort of. It's not a real one - I found a guy online who makes artificial animal-skin rugs to order. I remember that you said that the tiger we saw when we went back in time would make a nice rug, and I'd always wanted to give you one. So I drew him a picture of what the pattern should look like, and he made it for me." He leaned down next to the head, and squished it down, fangs and all. "The head is a pillow, see?"

Isabella put her hand to her mouth in a vain attempt to stifle a laugh. The rug was tacky, it wouldn't fit with anything else in the room, it wasn’t at all how she’d planned to decorate in here, but it was indefinably...Phineas. And he clearly loved it, and hoped she would as well.

He sat down on the rug, and gestured to her to come join him. Shaking her head and chuckling, she sat. The rug was soft and well-padded, and it felt nice on her legs, bare under her shorts.

“Picture this,” he began. “It’s a cold winter night outside. We’ve got the fire going, and are curled up together here, just the two of us...”

She certainly didn’t think that sounded bad. And the rug would be very pleasant to lie down on. The idea was growing on her, she had to say. It would certainly be a conversation piece.

"Here, lie down and let me rub your back," Phineas said. Isabella lay down prone, resting her head on her hands, and then melted into the rug as Phineas's talented hands started working on the knots in her shoulders again.

_Maybe we can try the tub tomorrow night,_ Isabella thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was inspired, at least in part, by the wampa-skin rugs sold by Thinkgeek. (I totally want one. The only reason I don't have one yet is that I don't have a good place to put it. If I had a fireplace to put it in front of, I would have one.)  
> I had originally planned to add the rug in Something Special, but decided that Phineas wouldn't want to lug the thing in and out of the camp.


	5. Quid Pro Quo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Monty shows up at the door of the Foundation with a friend and an offer...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Timeframe - shortly after Tyger, Tyger; summer just after college graduation.

Vanessa answered the door of the Fletcher-Flynn Foundation building. She’d been working with her husband Ferb on the engineering of the anti-grav plate that they hoped to turn into their next generally-usable invention when the doorbell rang unexpectedly.

Of all the people she expected to find on the doorstep, her ex-boyfriend from ten years earlier wasn’t even remotely on the list. Monty was wearing a nice suit and carrying a briefcase; he looked more and more like his father now that he was older.

Perry the Platypus, standing next to him with his fedora on, was much more likely; he’d had to move to a new home four years earlier when Phineas and Ferb had gone to Marshwood to attend the Quad-State Institute of Technology, but now that they were back in Danville, he stopped by to visit when he could.

Monty looked shocked to see her and almost dropped his briefcase. “Vanessa? Hi, what are you doing here? I need to talk to someone in the...” He looked in his notes. “Fletcher-Flynn Foundation?”

Vanessa smiled with almost no bitterness. “It’s Vanessa Fletcher now; I’m one of the partners in the Foundation. Why don’t you both come in, we’ll talk.”

She gestured them in toward the kitchen, then closed the door behind them.

“So, Monty, what’s up?” she asked as they took seats at the kitchen counter.

“I...I’m sorry, I didn’t realize the Vanessa Fletcher on the list was you. I’m not sure I should be discussing this with you. Given who your father is,” he responded.

Vanessa rolled her eyes. “Look, I’m not my Dad. We’re working on helping humanity here. Making things better for everyone.”

Ferb wandered into the kitchen from the lab, and raised an eyebrow at the tableau in the kitchen. Vanessa smiled at him, and made introductions. “Ferb, this is Monty Monogram, presumably here on behalf of the OWCA, given the company he’s keeping. Monty, this is my husband, Ferb Fletcher. Would you prefer to talk about this with him?”

Monty sighed. “No, it’s okay. The OWCA has an offer for your foundation.”

Ferb took the last seat at the counter, reaching over to boop Perry on the bill. Perry’s eyes narrowed happily, and he shook his head with a platypus smile.

“What’s the offer?” Vanessa asked.

“We’re fighting evil scientists. They keep coming up with new and interesting ways to break the laws of physics. We need people like you to provide equipment to help us keep up with them.”

Ferb asked, “So what do you need? We’re not arms dealers.”

“We don’t need weapons,” Monty said. “We need things like enhancements for the hover cars, better grappling hooks, better glass cutters, better lock picks. Things to help restrained agents free themselves, or gain entry to where evil scientists don’t want them.”

Vanessa nodded. “So what do we get for this? OWCA payment policies left a lot to be desired last I saw.”

“We have a budget for equipment upgrades. And...Agent P’s host family is moving to Duluth. We’d be willing to let him move back here, if you’re willing to take him.”

Ferb blinked. Vanessa could almost see the thoughts running through his head. He’d missed the platypus dearly; extra OWCA money could help keep them afloat until they got the anti-grav plates functional under normal physics. They’d really spent too much money in this huge lab/two-family house, and a cash influx would keep the ramen flowing for a few more months.

“We’d need to clear it with Phineas and Isabella,” Ferb said. “Especially Isabella; she’s the money manager. They’re out at the moment, but if you’ve got something we can give to her, she’ll give you a call later.”

Monty nodded. “That’s all I can ask for.” He popped his briefcase open and pulled out a folder, which he handed to Vanessa. “This is our proposal. If you’d like, we can let Agent P stay the night while you think about it.”

Ferb smiled. “I’d appreciate that. Does that sound good to you, Perry?”

Perry nodded emphatically.

* * *

Isabella put the proposal down on the table. “It’s a decent offer,” she began. “I’d need an estimate of how much time it’ll take to do the work they want out of us and how much the security upgrades will cost. We’d be considered an OWCA facility, which is why they could let Perry stay here, and why we’d need those security upgrades.

“The monthly payment would cover over half our monthly non-discretionary expenses. At our current burn rate, that bumps us to four months of buffer before we need to take drastic steps. If we can cut the burn rate as I’ve suggested...” She paused to glare at her husband, who was too busy seething about the whole situation to notice. “...it’d get us up to six, maybe seven months.”

“And it gets us Perry,” Ferb said, petting the platypus that was resting on his lap.

“And maybe we can get Pinky, too,” Isabella added.

“And it ties us to Monogram.” Phineas practically spat out the name.

“He did what he did for a reason,” Vanessa said. “My dad wouldn’t do anything against you guys now, but if he’d known who Perry’s host family was before, he might have. It’s part of that whole ‘evil’ thing.”

“So it was better for us to be unsuspecting and defenseless?” Phineas said, turning toward her.

“It was better for you not to be involved,” Vanessa said. “Or, at least, for normal people not to be involved. You guys could have defended yourselves, sure. Most host families couldn’t. The policy is for their safety.”

“If they were so worried about safety, why have host families at all?”

“Socialization,” Ferb said. “So the agents have something concrete to fight for.”

Phineas turned on him, then threw up his hands. “Fine. I see I’m outvoted here. Do what you want.” He turned and stalked out of the room.

Isabella stood up to go after him, but Perry shook his head. He jumped off Ferb’s lap and followed Phineas out of the room.

* * *

Phineas lay on the couch, idly stroking Perry. He’d calmed down finally, with Perry’s help, but hadn’t been willing to go deal with anyone else yet. Now it was almost bedtime, and he still hadn’t spoken to anyone but Perry since storming out of Isabella’s office.

Isabella came upstairs into the room. “Phineas? Are you coming to bed?”

Phineas looked up at her. “Do you want me to? I’d assumed I was sleeping here for the night.”

“I’d prefer some company.”

Phineas nodded. “So did the three of you decide to take Monogram’s offer?”

“We decided we couldn’t make that decision with you so opposed to it. If you really are that set against it, we’ll turn it down. If you’re willing to take it, we’ll try to get Pinky back as well, and maybe we can get some more money out of the OWCA to cover the security upgrades.”

Phineas smiled faintly and stroked Perry. “Why are you so willing to jump on their offer?” he asked, trying to project honest curiosity instead of accusation.

Isabella came over and sat on the end of the couch, Phineas moving his feet to give her room. “I can’t speak for Ferb and Vanessa. Personally, I’d really like Perry and Pinky back. The biggest thing, though...I can’t help you find the next invention yet,” she said, looking at the cold fireplace. “But the money is my responsibility, and it’s almost gone.”

“My fault,” Phineas said. “This house was my idea.”

“Not just yours. We all agreed. But what’s done is done. My job now is to try to find a way for us to stay afloat. Cutting expenses will help a bit, but what we really need is a way to get more money in. This is it.”

“Still my fault. I should have gotten another invention out by now. Then we could get more funding.”

“Yes, because the laws of physics bend at your whim,” Isabella said sarcastically.

“Yes, they do! They should, at least. But I can’t even get that right,” Phineas said vehemently, sitting up to face her.

“I need to keep us afloat until inspiration strikes again. And I’m screwing it all up,” Isabella said with equal force. “We’re spending money too fast, and not getting anything in.”

Perry jumped off of Phineas’s lap, landing between the two of them, and held up his hands to indicate that they should both stop. They both calmed down a bit as they looked at him. He jumped down onto the sabertooth-skin rug in front of the couch, then gestured that they should get closer together.

Phineas chuckled as he put his arm around Isabella; she gave him a shy smile as she relaxed into his arm.

“I’m sorry,” Phineas said. “I get so worked up with my own problems that I forget you’re dealing with your own. I think I’m more upset that we need more money from somewhere else than at Monogram, really.”

“It’s okay. I’m sorry too. I know I get uptight about how much we’re spending, and...”

“Tomorrow, let’s go over your ideas for cutting spending again. I think I was mostly worried that, if we needed to do that, it meant I’d failed.”

“It doesn’t mean you failed. It means we need to be more careful with our resources. So, what about the offer from the OWCA?”

Phineas took a deep breath. “I’m in. Try to get the best terms you can out of them, and take the deal. I think we need Perry - and Pinky - around if we’re going to make this work. Even if just to keep us sane.” He smiled at the platypus, who nodded back.

They relaxed together for a moment, then Phineas leaned around to give her a gentle kiss. She put her hand on his cheek to pull him closer.

“Maybe we should take this into the other room,” Isabella said.

“Mmhmm.” Phineas looked over at the platypus on the floor. “I don’t know that there’s anyone for you to keep company tonight, Perry,” he said.

Perry shrugged, and curled up on the rug as Phineas and Isabella headed into the bedroom, hand-in-hand.


End file.
